Digital arts, fashion design, painting, jewelry making, and everything in-between are on the agenda for Creative Summer Workshops at Columbus College of Art & Design.

Registration is currently open for workshops for students grades one through 12, which are taught by CCAD faculty and community artists and meet daily in the morning or afternoon for one or two weeks.

“For students in grades one through 12, summer is the perfect time to bolster interests they may not be able to explore at school,” said Cat Sheridan, director of Continuing and Professional Studies at CCAD.

New this year is an extended care option designed to ease scheduling woes for working families. Extended care will provide care before, between, and after daytime workshops, giving youth grades three and up a full-day schedule. It will include breakfast, lunch, and a snack, and will be available during all six sessions.

For adults, weeklong workshops and eight-week courses are available. Registration for adult classes will begin in early May on www.ccad.edu/ce.

After more than a decade of successful summer workshops, Sheridan said that bolstering the visual arts in Columbus is more important now than ever.

“The arts make us a smarter, more inclusive, forward-moving community,” Sheridan said. “Our summer programs allow us to invite the whole community [to engage with the college] in a meaningful way.”

Mariah Shamy always thought she would study to be a doctor after high school. But after she attended CCAD’s College PreView program the summer after her sophomore year, everything changed.

“College PreView is where I discovered that I wanted to fully pursue art as a career,” said Shamy, now a freshman in Illustration at CCAD. “I knew that this is where I belonged.”

Now in its 15th year, the three-week program that allows students in grades 10–12 to experience life as a CCAD student is gearing up for some changes that will reflect the college’s new undergraduate curriculum.

Just as the undergraduate curriculum emphasizes business skills and industry and community partnerships, the College PreView curriculum will now give students the opportunity to work collaboratively across disciplines on a project with a real client through the CCAD MindMarket.

“[College PreView] students need to see the ties [between majors] and need to be involved in those ties,” said Cat Sheridan, director of continuing & professional studies. “We wanted to make sure we were reflecting the changes to the college.”

Sheridan is keeping details about the collaborative project under wraps, but did reveal that it will end with a capstone event with community guests.

Mariah Shamy (left) with friends at College PreView.

Last year marked the first year of Discovery Club, a weeklong program similar to College PreView that allows students going into grades 7-9 to experience life as a CCAD student.

The program is completely immersive and tailored to the interests of the group.

Last year’s inaugural cohort, made up of 12 students, was a success, Sheridan said, and this summer she looks forward to welcoming around 30 students.

“Last year was a really special program,” she said. “They had some fabulous results.”

While changes are on the horizon for College PreView, Sheridan said the mission remains the same for both Discovery Club and College PreView.

“Our hope is that we get students really excited,” she said. “This kind of program makes it 100 percent clear if you should go to an art school or not.”

The new collaborative project for College PreView students will add to faculty-taught classes and professional artist workshops that intentionally make students stretch.

“[The program is] rigorous enough that it truly challenges [students],” Sheridan said. “In the span of three weeks, you get to see amazing growth.”

Students eating in the CCAD Market during College PreView.

For many students, experiences outside of the classroom are just as important—living in a dorm, eating at the dining hall, making new friends, and exploring Columbus all help give students a complete picture of life as a CCAD student.

College PreView gave Anna D’Amico a glimpse of life away from home, something she had never experienced before.

“[College] PreView gave me a much better idea of what campus life and classes would be like at CCAD,” D’Amico said. “I think it was a really important step in proving to myself that I would be OK living on my own.”

Now a sophomore in Illustration at CCAD, D’Amico lives with two friends that she met at College PreView and keeps in touch with several others.

“My favorite part overall had to be meeting young artists,” D’Amico said. “[College] PreView was the first time that I was really able to click with someone my own age after just a short conversation.”

The only downside? Going back to high school, D’Amico said.

“I just couldn’t wait to get back to CCAD!”

D’Amico is from Cincinnati, OH, where she attended Wyoming High School, and Shamy is from Powell, OH, where she attended Olentangy Liberty High School.

Check out what other College PreView students had to say about their experience.

As we eagerly wait for the temperatures to rise in Columbus, we can’t help but get excited about our upcoming summer programs, which cater to all ages and cover many visual arts interests.

For more than a decade, Creative Summer Workshops have been a popular destination at CCAD, serving everyone from age 6 to 90. The one- to two-week workshops run half days, Monday through Friday, and both morning and afternoon classes are available.

For parents, these workshops provide a perfect day camp for their creatively inclined children. Class subjects range from classic drawing to digital art to comic book drawing and photography. The workshops are arranged by grade level so students can learn and play alongside their peers.

For adults, the workshops can be a wonderful staycation adventure—imagine taking glassblowing every morning for your vacation. New this year is an exciting two-week workshop titled Cast to the Future. Participants in this workshop will work in CCAD’s new Fab Lab with CCAD’s dean of design arts and chairs of Animation and Dimensional Studies. Students will generate a piece of jewelry from a virtual 3D object, learn the basics of 3D polygonal modeling, print their model on a state-of-the-art 3D printer, and harness the power of a 3000-year old technology to cast the print in bronze, silver, or gold.

CCAD’s popular College PreView returns, offering high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors a three-week college experience. During the program, students are able to live in our residence halls, take classes with our faculty, meet professional artists, exhibit their work, and explore Columbus and its art scene. New this year, the program is offering an additional option to take a guided trip to New York City.

This summer also launches CCAD’s Discovery Club. The weeklong residential art camp allows students an experience similar to College PreView, but designed for grades 7–10.

Summer is also a good time to take one of CCAD’s degree courses. The term is more condensed in the summer, and with lighter summer BFA enrollment there is a greater likelihood of non-degree-seeking students getting into classes.

“We often see art educators take advantage of CCAD’s degree courses during the summer,” said Cat Sheridan, director of Continuing & Professional Studies. “During the summer, educators may have more flexible schedules, so it is easier to take advantage of these classes. They are able to use our facilities, learn from our faculty, and develop both professionally and personally.”

To view a complete list of workshops offered to children and adults, click here. To learn more about College PreView and Discovery Club, click here.

CCAD’s resident College PreView program provides 10th-, 11th- and 12th-grade students an immersive three-week, college-life experience. This year the college is going even farther with this popular program.

College PreView is expanding to offer an option for middle school students who want to investigate life at an art college, and is adding an optional New York excursion week to its high school program.

College PreView was created to provide students an on-campus, intensive core art curriculum, while still allowing them to focus on an elective area of their choice, just as they would if they were attending college to earn their degree. While here the students are afforded the opportunity to interact with professional artists and faculty, exhibit their own artwork, and explore Columbus and its local arts scene. It’s a collection of college-life experiences that can enrich a student’s future art education.

This year CCAD wanted to open up that experience to students in seventh-, eighth-, and ninth grade by offering CCAD Discovery Club. Discovery Club is an in-residence experience, has core classes and focused electives that relate to the college’s major areas of study, and includes local excursions to round out the college life experience. CCAD Discovery Club is designed with a younger audience in mind, and is one week long rather than three.

“We know that the students who come will be transformed and will understand better what they would like their path to be,” said Cat Sheridan, director of Continuing & Professional Studies. “These younger students can also discover what it is they want to do and we can help them to dip their fingers in all the pots and figure which one is best for them.”

In addition to broadening the audience for a College PreView experience, CCAD is taking it farther—to New York City

Junior and senior high-school students can participate in an optional five-day trip to one of the nation’s art centers.

“We wanted to provide these students with an even deeper experience,” said Sheridan. “We want to help them understand what CCAD grads are doing in the art industry and allow them to take a look at the different art contexts they can jump into when they earn an art degree.”

Students receive three college credits for participating in the traditional College PreView program and the additional travel week for juniors and seniors will earn them an additional credit as well as an enriching art experience.

Sheridan expects students from all over the country to participate in both programs and spaces will fill up fast.

The College PreView program runs July 7 – 27 with the additional optional travel week that runs July 28-Aug. 3. Students can start the application process now and some scholarships are available. Learn more here.

Discovery Club’s weeklong residential art camp is offered three times over the summer so students can choose the week that best fits their schedule. Session one: July 7 to 13, session two: July 14 to 20, or session three: July 21 to 27. Registration starts March 1, learn more here.